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Day Service of Teens work to cleanup club, community during MLK National Day of Service

By CARIE CANTERBURY canterburyc@ cañoncitydailyrecord.com

Posted:
01/21/2013 08:03:33 PM MST

Members of the Boys & Girls Club of Fremont County, William Tursick, Aurora Aldrich, Dylan Mares, Tyson Rhodes, Dylan Kamke and Kieren Skelly work to clean up the Clubâ s courtyard Monday. (Carie Canterbury/Daily Record)

M ore than a dozen teens rolled up their sleeves Monday and worked together to cleanup the Boys & Girls Club property and surrounding neighborhood as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Day of Service.

Club members picked up trash, spruced up the club's van and collected garbage on the Riverwalk trails, spearheaded by the club's Keystone Club. Fremont County students had Monday off from school in observance of Martin Luther King Jr.

"I think these projects are really good because Martin Luther King was a great person, and he made a great impact on the United States," said Kieren Skelly, president of the Keystone Club and seventh-grader at Harrison K-8 School. "I think it's really important that we honor him in doing all this community service."

Sadie Swisher, program director for the club, said they received service ideas from the Boys & Girls Club of America. From there, she and Kieren worked to orchestrate Monday's Day of Service.

"We also are going through our 'Cowboy Ethics' and one of the principles is riding for the brand; we're riding for the brand in our community by doing this," she said. "Also, a big thing Kieren and I have been working really hard on is paying it forward and doing random acts of kindness without expecting anything in return."

The Keystone Club is a teen leadership program where students learn and lead by example how to be a leader and not a follower, Kieren said.

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"We do a lot of fundraising, we organized this community service project and we do fun things in the community, as well, like organize dances," he said.

Kieren said students Monday worked together to complete a Martin Luther King Jr. art project, and in addition to their beautification project, club members offered local teens in need an opportunity to stop by and peruse the "Clothes Closet." They also made thank you cards to businesses and organizations who have contributed to the Club in the past year.

For more information on the Boys & Girls Club of Fremont County, visit bgcfremont.org or call 345-4038.